From One Era To The Next
by horcrux-of-the-daleks
Summary: NOW COMPLETE! My first ever fanfiction. It is Lily and James' sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but things don't go according to plan and the pair find themselves transported to the generation of their son. They are forced to act as though they simply transferred from Durmstrang to Hogwarts, while trying to find a safe way back to their own era.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one: Divination**

**A/N: This is my first ever fanfiction, although I have read many. I really hope I did a good job, and constructive criticism is welcome. I'm not sure how fast I'll be able to update, as I'm still in high school and exams are coming up soon. But please don't let that discourage you, I do have a passion for writing and have always received good grades in English. But, enough about me, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and will not make any money off this story; this amazing world belongs to miss Joanne K. Rowling.**

"Ah, mister Potter, thank you for finally joining us," said the divination professor in her usual dreamy voice. "You may go join miss Evans in the front row."

_Great. Just great. _I groaned inwardly. _Now I have to deal with the toerag James Potter all period._

James walked up to my table with his usual careless demeanor, wiggling his eyebrows in that insufferably annoying way at me. I may no longer by friends with Severus after he called me a you-know-what, but that doesn't mean I accept the way James and his fellow Marauders Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew treated him for all those years.

James eventually reached where I was sitting, and the professor continued rambling on about the effects of certain spells on Crystal Balls, and whatnot.

"Hey, Evans," I heard an annoyingly familiar voice in my ear.

"What?" I snapped back, probably a little too loudly, as a couple of heads turned in our direction. "What?" I repeated, more quietly.

"Can I borrow your answers for the Arithmancy homework, I forgot to do mine."

At this, I whipped my head around, letting a couple of strands of my wavy red hair to fall out of its messy bun in my face and gave the black haired boy my best glare. "I have told you before, Potter, and I will tell you again; I do not condone cheating!" I whispered back in a harsh tone, to which he simply rolled his hazel eyes.

"Whatever, Evans, just asking."

I continued to listen to Trelawney's lecture and redid my hair, and when I looked over at my partner I found that he was not paying an ounce of attention whatsoever.

_Sucks for him, _I thought. _At least I will know what to do when we start trying to see into the future._

After a few more minutes of listening and two feet of parchment covered in notes in front of me, it was time to begin the lesson. Opening my copy of _Unfogging the Future, _I felt James tapping my shoulder.

"So, what is it we're doing?" He asked.

"Why don't you ever pay attention?" I retorted, but explained anyways with a sigh. "We have to cast these spells," I said, pointing to my textbook, "on that crystal ball," gesturing to the sphere in the middle of our table, "and then write an essay on the effects the spells have on the clarity of the image that appears."

"God, she took all that time to explain only that? I knew this class was a waste of time," he grumbled.

I was going to ask why he took it in that case, but decided against it, as it was probably either to stalk me or due to the fact that he lost a bet with his best friend and notorious bad boy, Sirius Black.

Today's assignment was fairly simple; I had mastered these incantations a long time ago, and got started on my essay within a few minutes while James seemed to think that it was below him to start working right away. Now, this normally wouldn't worry me, I have my own work to deal with, but I noticed that he had his wand out and pointed at the crystal ball, muttering incantations, one of which made the clouded sphere smoke a bit.

"Um, Potter, I don't think that's such a good idea…" I said with a worried tone in my voice.

"Relax, Evans, live a little! What's the worst that could happen?"

"You seriously need to learn how powerful magic can be when not used properly!" I said less worriedly and more exasperatedly.

I turned back to me essay only to hear more spells muttered under his breath, and then finally a louder one:

"Incendio!' James nearly shouted, causing all thirty-three heads in the room to turn towards him as flames erupted from the tip of his wand. The last thing I saw before my vision was only a mass of white clouds was the crystal ball covered in blue flames and James' shocked expression.

**A/N: So there is my first ever fanfiction chapter! I'm sorry it was so short, but I needed to get the story going and couldn't think of another place to end it. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I will have the next chapter up ASAP, but don't be surprised if that isn't until next weekend.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two: Platform Nine and Three Quarters**

**A/N: So here is my second chapter! I wanted to say thanks for the positive reviews I got for my first chapter, and to my older sister for reading this and chapter one over before I published them. I'm not sure if this chapter will be as good, but oh well. Let me know!**

**One more thing: To my dear friend Sarah who is currently reading the Chamber of Secrets for the first time: GET AWAY FROM THIS STORY! IT CONTAINS SPOILERS! IF YOU READ ONE MORE CHAPTER, I WILL THROW FIFTY SNOWBALLS AT YOUR FACE! I'm only joking, don't worry, Sarah, but seriously, exit now and return when you finished the books.**

**On with the story!**

"Potter?"

"Yeah, Evans?"

"What the hell?"

"I have no idea."

At this point, I have no idea what is going on. One second, I am in divination, barely putting up with James Potter as he cast spells on the crystal ball, the next all I can see is a swirling, white and grey mass, then I'm standing on Platform Nine and Three Quarters at nearly eleven pm, judging by the clock on the wall, on September the first.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get on the train!" Says Potter, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What? Get on the train? Have you gone mental?" I exclaim.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do? I mean, obviously _something_ happened when I lit that crystal ball on fire!"

_Idiot._

"I suppose so. All right, let's go." I said with a sigh. "But do not talk to anybody you do not recognize. I read somewhere that messing with objects used in divination can sometimes do strange things with time. Also, if you are forced to talk with anyone, my name is… Leigh, um… Leigh Adam and you are Kyle… Kyle Perie, alright?"

"Why?" He inquired. "What could go wrong with me telling someone my name?"

"I don't know, just do it, okay? I have no idea what might happen." I replied.

And with that, we got on the train already in our robes, hoping at least our trunks stayed in our dorms.

"So what should we do if we did go back or forward in time or whatever your crazy theory is?" Potter asked me as we walked through the train, trying to find somewhere to sit. "I mean, what do we tell people? They're sure to notice they've never seen us before!"

"Just tell them that we transferred here from another wizarding school, say, Durmstrang, and we don't know how long we'll be staying. I have no idea if or when we will be able to find a way back, if we aren't in our own time."

"Alright… and the professors? What about them?" James was just full of questions.

"I guess we'll have to tell them the truth, at least that way we will have someone to help us figure out what happened and how to reverse it." Why did I have to find all the solutions?

We managed to find an empty compartment and sat down across from each other, although it did not stay that way, as four students appeared a couple of silent minutes later. One of them was a small girl with bushy brown hair, two of them, a boy and a girl both had flaming red hair, slightly brighter than my own, and blue eyes. The last was a boy who looked oddly like James but with shorter hair and bright green eyes with round glasses.

"Do you mind?" Asked the girl with the bushy hair. "All the other compartments are full."

"Not at all," I replied, seeing as my companion was frozen to the spot, staring at the dark haired boy, who I must say, was just about a spitting image of James, and even appeared to be the same age.

"Thanks." Said the same girl.

Next, the red haired boy spoke. "Hey, I've never seen you two before, what year are you in?" Earning a glare from the brown haired girl, although I noticed a certain softness… I decided to make it my mission to find out what was going on between them if we ended up becoming friends. I may be bookish and studious, but I do like some good romance once in a while.

This time, James managed to speak up. "We're in our sixth year, and you?"

"The same." Said the red haired girl, probably the sister of the first boy to speak. Although James' twin, let's call him, remained silent. "It's odd that we've never met, especially since we're in the same house," the girl gestured to our Gryffindor robes, and I saw that these four all had the same. "Are you from here?" She inquired.

"Um, no actually, we transferred here from, uh, Durmstrang. I'm Leigh Adam and my disgruntled friend" I said, as James looked only half-conscious, leaning on the window "is Kyle Perie. We were sorted into our houses, um... During the summer by... Dumbledore." That sounded at least a little plausible, assuming Dumbledore was still headmaster, although I would have to polish up on my lying skills.

"Well in that case, welcome to Hogwarts!" Said the girl with the brown hair, grinning broadly. "I'm Hermione Granger, this is Ginny Weasley with the red hair, her brother Ron, and this is Harry Potter with the dark hair, although I'm sure you've heard of him."

I gasped at the name. Potter! This must mean that I either just met my enemy's ancestor or descendant. Although, judging by the way Hermione acted as though he was famous and I don't think any of James' current relatives are, I decided to go for the latter theory.

"G-good to m-meet you." James stuttered, clearly quit flustered having just met a teenage version of a relative if his, and Harry seemed to still be in shock over the likeness in appearance between him and James.

I suddenly had an idea, a way to find out for sure where in time we had really gone.

"Do any of you have the time?" I asked as innocently as possible.

I was elated to see that Hermione was wearing a digital Muggle watch, one that would have the date. She handed it to me, and I saw that we were in the year 1997. The future. Not the past, not a parallel universe, but the future. I just could not believe it. I wonder if I'll get to meet any of my descendants while we're here...

The rest of the train ride went fairly well, the four of them were quite kind, even Harry, who was not an arrogant toerag like his father (or at least I assumed James was his dad, based on the year). And, although there were a couple of awkward questions about Durmstrang, to which I gave them generic answers, almost entirely untraceable just in case they had met or will meet real Durmstrang students, we had some very nice conversations. I found I really liked Hermione, she was very intellectual, and that is something I love to see in people, as I tend to get along better with them.

James, unlike me, was keeping up the lies quite smoothly, with no awkward pauses or fumbling over his words, even smirking at me when I gave him an incredulous look for speaking so smoothly about our "former school".

_Bastard_.

Eventually, the train stopped; we had arrived at Hogsmeade station, where we (well, they) gathered their things and we boarded the carriages. Thankfully those had not changed.

Once there, we met two other students, Ginny introduced them as Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Neville seemed fairly normal, although Luna seemed to be very odd to say the least. She was reading a magazine called the Quibbler upside down, and when I asked about the article, I got a lengthy description about some creatures called Wrackspurts, who are supposedly, and I quote here, "invisible creatures that fly inside your ears and make your brain go fuzzy." This was proving to be the oddest day of my admittedly short life so far, and would turn out to be the oddest year as well.

**A/N: So there it is, my second chapter. Also, if there are any typos or grammar/spelling errors, please point them out to me and I will fix them (For this chapter and the others.) These little mistakes bother me, being a bit of a perfectionist and all, so I'm more than willing to correct those. I hope to have chapter three up by this weekend at the latest, but it ****might**** be up earlier. **

**And Sarah, my friend, if you are still reading, you will ruin the series for yourself, your call.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three: Hogwarts**

**A/N: There's not much to say here, but I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, it just makes my day! Oh, and thanks to my friends for letting me use their names as first years, you guys are awesome!**

Hogwarts had not changed a bit since I was last here, although I'm not sure if I should count that as yesterday or twenty-one years ago, or maybe both. I walked down the familiar corridors and finally felt a little bit at home, and when the doors to the Great Hall opened up, I was quite happy to find many of my professors were still here, including Dumbledore, Hagrid and Slughorn. Although there was one man, the one sitting in the chair of the DADA teacher who seemed familiar, but I just couldn't quite put my finger on it.

It was at that moment that I felt someone standing quite close to me. I looked over to find that it was James, who I supposed I should be calling Kyle, and I scooted away slightly, only to realize that it was a bit of a comfort having him so near… Wait, what was I thinking? This was James Potter! It must just have been the stress and fear this day has thrown at me, and the fact that he was the only familiar face out of all the students. I did not want to become friends or even, no, I can't even think it. Yes, that was certainly it. Nothing else, I assured myself.

Once we started walking into the Great Hall, all other thoughts left my mind. This place never ceased to amaze me, coming from a Muggle family and all. Most Muggle-borns would become used to it, but my eyes could never get enough of the arched stone ceiling transforming into a perfect image of the sky, particularly at night. And the way the entire atmosphere was happy, everyone glad to have returned.

As usual, the Sorting Hat was placed upon the old-looking, yet sturdy wooden stool as McGonagall led the new first years into the hall for the first time in their lives, all with awed, yet nervous expressions painted plainly on their young faces.

I listened as the sorting began.

"Victoria Tidd!" Announced McGonagall, and a girl with shoulder-length brown hair approached the Sorting Hat.

"Ravenclaw!" The hat shouted, as a cheer went up from the table beside us.

"Sarah Longford!" She had light brown hair with blonde streaks.

"Hufflepuff!" More cheers, this time from the other Hufflepuffs.

"Victoria Willard!" A girl with a determined expression walked up to the stool.

"Gryffindor!" I smiled as the young girl sat near us and I introduced myself.

"Shaina Willison!" She simply had a look of awe, and a surprising lack of fear.

"Gryffindor!" She came and sat beside Victoria.

"Natalie Kennedy!"

"Slytherin!" Whoops and hollers ensued as Slytherin got its first new student of the year.

The list went on.

After the sorting, James (who had nearly fallen asleep) and I stayed near the back of the table with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna, trying to draw as little attention as possible to ourselves. This proved to be difficult, however, as Harry seemed to attract a crowd wherever he went. I wondered what he could be so famous for, although there was no way I could ask. It would be too obvious that something was off with the idiot who got us stuck here and myself. Instead, I engaged in polite conversation, laughing at the right times and commenting when I saw fit.

I did notice, however, that James seemed a bit off. He didn't seem as full of life as before, and I hoped it was just the stress of the day, but it was still unnerving.

I was relieved when Harry and Ron started up a conversation about Quidditch and James perked up.

"Do either of you have any interest in Quidditch?" Ginny asked.

"Not really, I–" I started, but James interrupted me.

"I love it!" He responded with enthusiasm. "I was a chaser at Durmstrang."

"Well, why don't you try out?" Suggested Hermione. "Harry is captain this year, and if you make it, he could introduce you to the rest of the team. Or even if you don't, they are wonderful people otherwise," she started to babble, earning an eyeroll from Harry and a smack on the arm from Ron.

After that, I started to lose interest in the conversation and instead looked over to the professors. There were a few new teachers, including a new divination professor, a woman with an explosion of dirty blonde hair and round spectacles that made her eyes bug out like a dragonfly's. I wondered if maybe she could help me, er, us, get back to 1976.

I realized at that moment that we still had to explain to the teachers, especially Dumbledore, what we were doing here, back as students.

My eyes continued down the line of professors until I found the one with the long, greasy black hair and black eyes staring in my direction. From where could I possibly know him? Wait. No, it couldn't be. It just couldn't! Could this really be Severus Snape, the boy I now hated after he called me a you-know-what and became obsessed with the Dark Arts? No. But now I was sure of it. How could I possibly let Snape teach me? And in Defense AGAINST the Dark Arts, too!

I looked away quickly, turning to James.

"Hey, Kyle," I said, teeth clenched in anger at Snape. "Can I talk to you in the Entrance Hall for a second?"

"Sure."

The second we were in the Hall and out of earshot, I began talking very quickly, feeling flustered.

"Did you see the DADA teacher?" I demanded.

"Yeah, odd-looking bloke, wasn't he?" He replied calmly.

"Not just odd, that was SNAPE!" I nearly screamed at him.

"Snivellus? Are you sure?"

"OF COURSE I AM, YOU IDIOT! DO YOU THINK I WOULD HAVE DRAGGED YOU OUT HERE TO TELL YOU IT WAS SIMPLY A HUNCH?" I was getting furious now, the stress and fear of the day combined with my anger with the now middle-aged man in the next room."

"No need to get cross with me, I–" But I wasn't finished.

"OF COURSE I NEED TO BE CROSS WITH YOU, IT'S YOUR FAULT WE'RE HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! AND NOW I HAVE TO DEAL WITH AN OLD VERSION OF SNAPE AS WELL!" Now I was over the edge, not bothering to control my emotions; I needed to vent. "ALL BECAUSE YOU WERE BEING THE ARROGANT GIT YOU ALWAYS ARE!"

"Lily, please, calm down!" James tried begging.

"CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN? I WILL NOT CALM DOWN, YOU ARSE!" It didn't work.

"I was only trying to impress you." Flattery. Another good attempt, but just as unsuccessful.

"YOU THINK I CARE? YOU HAVE BEEN TRYING TO IMPRESS ME FOR SIX YEARS, JAMES POTTER!" Oops.

At this, he winced; I had crossed the line, despair flooding his features. This seemed to be the only thing to calm me down. I was quite susceptible to guilt.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just stressed." As much as I hated the bloke, I didn't want to hurt the poor boy's feelings.

"It's okay," he assured me. "I've dealt with this for six years, I'll be fine."

Great. Now I've done it. I screamed at the only person who knew our real story, my only ally.

**A/N: Ooh, I loved writing this chapter! I had to get myself really riled up to write their fight, it was fun.**

**Wow, I just realized that I've been updating way faster than I expected. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this up! Also, please review. I know most authors say that, and if you also write fanfics, you know the feeling.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four: Revelation**

**A/N: I'm so sorry I didn't update yesterday, but I was really busy with school and activities. Also, I won't be able to update Friday or Saturday, I have a family thing going on out of town and won't have Internet, but I will try for Sunday.**

**I will also put another disclaimer here since I do quote the book word for word here and just wanted to say that this world belongs to Joanne Rowling, not me.**

**Here goes chapter four!**

James acted as though he wasn't too upset, but even though I regretted yelling at him, we had more pressing matters to attend to.

"… And Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes" Dumbledore was saying as I reentered the Great Hall with James at my heels.

We sat down as Dumbledore continued. I decided to listen in order to catch up on some of the events I may be forced to talk about that hadn't happened until after my sixth year.

"Those wishing to play for their house Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post as Potions master." Now this was odd, I thought he already taught here? Did he retire at some point?

At this last statement, I heard several audible gasps of "Potions?" from several students. I wondered what was so unusual about this, which other position would he fill? This was really confusing me.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," continued Dumbledore over the chattering, raising his hand, "will be taking over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"No!" Harry practically shouted, causing many students to turn their heads in his direction, including myself. I guess the entire Potter family hated Snivellus, although I'm betting James taught him that.

"But Harry, I thought you said Slughorn would be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts!" Said another voice, presumably Hermione, although my attention was fixed to Snape who didn't bother to stand at his name being announced and was looking at Harry and James, back and forth, with a look of disgust on his face.

"I thought he was!" Harry and Hermione bickered.

The three of them continued like this (Ron had joined in) until Dumbledore cleared his throat, the room still buzzing with chatter.

"Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength." This was not news to me. You-Know-Who was getting stronger as I was in school, although judging by the panicked look in some people's faces and my own overhearing of the words "Harry Potter" and "the Chosen One", I judged that either He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had become extremely powerful over the last few years or he had lost power then gained it back, as well as gaining a theory on why James' son was so famous.

"I cannot emphasise strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe." Dumbledore continued. "The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff." I gave a pointed look at James, getting an eyeroll in response. "I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them – in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours." Another glare at James followed by another eyeroll. "I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and each other's safety."

The headmaster swept his blue eyes over the crowd before smiling.

"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say goodnight."

Most of the students started leaving, but Ginny, Harry, Luna and Neville stayed behind, offering to show us to the dormitories. Apparently Ron and Hermione were prefects and needed to attend to the first years.

"That's really very kind of you, but I'm sure you're extremely tired. And anyways, McGonagall wanted to speak with us after the feast." I said, hoping the lie wasn't too obvious.

"Yeah, we'll see you lot in the common room!" James said cheerfully. How could he lie so smoothly? Probably lots of practice.

And with that, the four of them said goodbye and headed up to the seventh floor.

Since the crowd had mostly thinned out, my companion and I pushed our way to the professors' table and approached McGonagall.

"What may I help you with then, Mr. Potter?" I was confused about why she was acting so calmly until I realised that she thought she was looking at Harry Potter rather than James. Suddenly, she took a double take and her eyes widened in shock at the teenagers standing before her. "Albus! Albus come here!" The aging Transfiguration professor said in a slightly panicked tone, her eyes not leaving James and I.

"Yes, Minerva – Merlin!" He exclaimed, breaking his usually calm demeanor before returning it. "I never thought I would see you two here again, I must say!" He chuckled slightly.

"Professors, let me explain." James began, but I cut him off.

"No, I think I will explain. I need to see the facts for myself anyways.

"Professors, I think we travelled through time without meaning to during a Divination class. Potter, here, lit a crystal ball on fire, sending us back to platform nine and three quarters in the year 1997."

"So that's where we are? The future?" James asked, and I realised I hadn't explained that to him yet. Oops.

"That's what I just said." I retorted. "Anyways, we got on the train, where we met Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, who I assume is the son of James, here. We got here without a problem, telling people we were Leigh Adam and Kyle Perie from Durmstrang, here as transfer students." I summarized the most eventful day of my life.

"Oho, what is this I hear?" Slughorn announced his presence. "Lily Evans, my top student is back from the past! This is quite intriguing!"

"Professor Slughorn!" McGonagall scolded. "This is not any of your business at the moment, and I would appreciate it if you left these poor students alone! They have had enough stress today as it is." You couldn't help but love her sometimes.

Slughorn brushed her off, but resumed his walk to the dungeons regardless.

"Now, I am quite sure you are quite tired at the moment, so I suggest you stay here at least one night until we can find a safe way to return you to your time. Also," McGonagall paused and waved her wand, producing two sheets of parchment, "just in case it takes a while to figure something out, here are your schedules for the time being. This way you can continue your studies. It also includes every class you took during your sixth year, which, I'm assuming is where you came from this morning?"

Cue the loud groan of annoyance from James.

I, on the other hand was glad, this way it would be at least somewhat more normal here, something to remind me of my home, even if it did involve endless homework.

"Great! Wait, how did you know we came here from our sixth year?" I asked, confused.

"No reason you need to know just yet," said Dumbledore. Did something happen to us over our seventh year? Was there some major change that happened then? I realised then that these teachers knew more about us than we ourselves did, if that makes any sense. "Now, you both might as well go up to your dormitories. You will be sharing with the other students in your year. I do believe your trunks managed to arrive here as well. Off you go! No need for you to stay up any later. And the password to your dormitory this year is 'Wormwood.'"

With that, we left.

**A/N: So there you go! Again, I will not be able to update for a few days, but will try my best.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five: Continuing**

**A/N: Again, I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update, but I made sure to get this chapter done as soon as I could.**

**Also, thank you so much to the people who reviewed/followed/favorited this story, it means a lot. Please leave a review if you have time!**

As I had expected, the professors could not find a way to send Potter and I back to our time. I was disappointed; I didn't exactly like lying to the students here, must of them seemed quite nice, but I knew it would happen. Classes weren't bad, although we were assigned mountains of homework, and Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were particularly awkward, Snivellus avoiding me while deducting constant points and giving regular detentions to James. I guess old rivalries never wore off.

There were also moments when our cover would be nearly blown when I would almost call James "Potter" or he would nearly call me "Evans." I still had no idea if or how much things would change, in the small or large scale of things, if anyone, especially Harry, found out what was really going on. All I knew was that Dumbledore did not want anyone to know anything, even refusing to tell me anything about my own future, which was endlessly irritating, since I hate not knowing.

The only truly normal thing that was going on at the moment, at least for me, was that James was back to his old self, flirting with me and asking me out left, right and center.

This resulted in many shared looks between Ginny and Hermione who were, much like my friends back home, convinced that I belonged with him.

No_._ It just wasn't going to happen. I would rather marry a troll.

Anyways, at the moment I have a free period, and since I had already completed my homework, I was in the common room with Hermione chatting about life in general, as she seemed to be the only person in the entire school with the same study habits as me. I would think that maybe she was my descendant, but she was a Muggleborn.

"So, Hermione, do you mind if I ask you a question?" I asked.

"Not at all," she replied.

"What is going on with you and Ron? It seems like you fancy each other, but act as though there's nothing going on when you're together," this had been nagging at me for a while now, and I needed to ask before I went insane trying to decipher their feelings.

"I could ask the same about you and Kyle," she said, avoiding the question.

"Excuse me?" I would have persisted, but I wanted to know what she meant.

"Don't act like you don't know, Leigh. It's obvious he is in love with you, I mean; he can't take his eyes off you for half a second! And, although you're more subtle about it, I've seen you looking at him, and whenever he talks to you, your pupils dilate, doesn't that only happen when you're attracted to someone?"

Crap. For a girl I've only known for a couple of weeks, she really knew how to argue with me, I found it difficult to fight facts.

"What? No!" I exclaimed, not ready to give up just yet. "I mean, I know Perie fancies me, he has for years, but there is no way I like him back! He is an arrogant toerag, an insensitive arse! I will never like him."

I got a smug look and a disbelieving smile in return. "I wouldn't be so sure. You might just cave one day."

"Whatever."

Harry walked in with Ron, 'Kyle' and Ginny just then saving me from more interrogation about my enemy.

"You girls coming to watch the Quidditch tryouts?" James asked.

"Sure. Come on, Leigh," said Hermione.

"Ugh, fine. Just don't think I'm coming for you, Po– Perie."

"You sure you don't want to go out with me?"

"Shut up," I said automatically without a hint of amusement in my voice.

"I don't know why you eve try, mate, it's a dead case," Ron had joined in.

"Let's just go," I said, annoyed at how much the subject of James and I was popping up.

It was a long walk from Gryffindor tower to the Quidditch pitch, but the fair weather made it enjoyable, and Hermione and I found seats in the stands with Luna, the strange Ravenclaw girl I met on the carriages. She was, again, proving to be quite the oddball, wearing a hat in the shape of a lion that roared every once in a while. There was also another girl sitting in the stands. Lavender Brown, one of the girls I shared a room with and who had an obvious, obsessive crush on Ron.

Harry, as captain, seemed to have a lot on his plate with the tryouts this year. There were at least twenty students there, some of which, I noticed, weren't even in Gryffindor. This must have something to do with Harry being the 'Chosen One' (McGonagall had explained to us what we may need to know about what is currently going on in the Wizarding World soon after we arrived.)

In the end, the team composed of a seventh year named Katie Bell, Ginny Weasley and James as Chasers, two boys named Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote as Beaters and, of course, Harry as Seeker. Now, the only tryouts left were those for the position as Keeper.

The only reasonable choices for this position were Ron Weasley and Cormac McLaggen, who seemed to have an eye for Hermione but seemed to be quite the jerk.

McLaggen went first, saving the first four goals effortlessly, although on the fifth shot, he seemed to not see anything and shot off in the direction of the opposite hoop. Coincidentally, of maybe not, right before Ginny threw the Quaffle, I saw Hermione cover her mouth with her hand and mutter something under her breath. Could she have been Confunding him? I wondered.

Ron was up next. I was a bit worried, I'll admit, as he did look a bit nervous, but he did well and got the position on the team.

After all that was done and over with (I couldn't help but be glad, never being interested in sports as it was), Luna, Lavender, Hermione and I went down to the field to congratulate the players. I said quick congratulations to Ron and gave Harry a sympathetic glance since he was caught in the way of a furious McLaggen demanding a retake. I was just starting to leave with Ginny when two strong arms wrapped around me.

"What, no congratulatory kiss?" The annoyingly familiar voice of James asked from behind me.

I forced my way out of his grasp and retorted.

"Oh, sod off, Perie."

With that, I marched off with a huff, Ginny right beside me.

"You know, it couldn't hurt to give the guy a chance, he really likes you," she said as we walked across the grounds.

"Oh, not you, too," I said, exasperated. "I had Hermione on my case all free period!"

"Well, what do you expect? He chases after you constantly, and you always shoot him down. He's really not a bad bloke."

"Whatever," I gave the same answer as I gave Hermione a couple of hours previous.

**A/N: So, this author's note has nothing to do with this story, but I was thinking of some tome writing another story just for myself that would basically be a fantasy of going to Hogwarts and I wanted to know what you all would think bout me publishing it. Please let me know in the form of a review or private message, and keep in mind that I haven't already written it. Please tell me yes or no. Thank you!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six: The Half-Blood Prince**

**A/N: Okay, so I have decided that I WILL publish the story (once I have written it, and I'm not sure when that will happen) where I go to Hogwarts. Just thought I would let you guys know.**

**Also, I just wanted to say that there may be some parts in this story that are not in the same order as in the book, I know, so please don't kill me :P**

"How did you get your potion to look like that so quickly?" I asked Harry during one potions lesson. His Draught of Living Death was perfectly colorless, exactly as it described in my copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_.

"You crush the Sopophorous Bean using a silver dagger. Here," he replied, passing me a knife.

I was actually quite impressed with his potion-making skills. It seemed as though he didn't inherit that quality from his father, who was currently attempting to give his potion some impression of being anything other than a stinking black tar-like look it had going on. I took Harry's advice, and, using the dagger, crushed the small, wrinkled bean, astonished at how much juice came out. I added it to the potion, stirring it, adding one clockwise turn every seven counter-clockwise turns (a little trick I picked up from Severus before we went our separate ways), and it soon became nearly identical to Harry's, although with a slightly purplish tinge. A minute later, Slughorn came around, shocked to find that we both achieved such good results.

"I must say! I am quite impressed!" He exclaimed, delighted to find three of his students (Hermione had done fairly well) had excelled at making this potion. "Three of you! Rarely have I had a class so talented, although I think Mister Potter, here, did the best."

Slughorn then handed Harry the small bottle of golden liquid luck, or, Felix Felicis that he had promised to the student with the best results at the beginning of the class. Just as Harry reached over, however, I saw that his potions book was covered in neat, tight handwriting. I recognized that from somewhere, but knew it wasn't Harry's, since I sometimes studied with him, Ron and Hermione, and his calligraphy was not exactly the best. Where could I have seen that writing before…?

After classes for the day were over, I was going to go talk to Harry about the potions book, only to see that Ron, Hermione and Ginny had beaten me to it. It seemed as though they were quite upset with the fact that Harry was, to use Ginny's words; "taking orders from a book."

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry, but what is, exactly, the big deal with Harry listening to what someone wrote in the margins of a textbook?" I felt this overwhelming urge to defend Harry, although I'm not sure why. It almost felt as though I was responsible for him, which was odd. I had barely known him a month!

My inquiry seemed to work as a distraction, and all heads turned to me.

"I'll explain," said Ginny. "I know the story best.

"When I was in my first year, I found a diary, one that, when I wrote in it, my words would disappear and others would take their place, the words of someone else. I thought it was all in good fun at first, but then I started having gaps in my memory. It tuned out that, in the diary, You-Know-Who had stored a piece of himself and used the diary to control me.

"Under his control, I did terrible things. I wrote threatening messages on the walls in my own blood, I killed Hagrid's roosters; I even opened the Chamber of Secrets, thereby unleashing the Basilisk, a giant snake that would kill anyone upon eye contact. All without the slightest clue as to what was going on, especially since I was only eleven.

"I don't remember what happened exactly, I was out cold, trapped in the Chamber, but Harry and Ron came down and killed the snake and destroying the diary, saving my life.

"Because of this, I really don't think it's safe for Harry to go around listening to a book."

I was astonished, and that was an understatement. These kids had gone though all that at the ages of eleven and twelve and survived? Was that even possible? What shocked me more was that it was the son of James Potter, of all people, who did this. Either James became a much better wizard as he grew older, he already was that great and I didn't realise, or he married someone extraordinarily talented.

"Wow, I can't believe you went through all that, especially at such a young age," I expressed my admiration. "And I do think that that is a perfectly valid reason to mistrust a book, although I have an idea to prove whether or not this particular novel should be destroyed."

Before Harry noticed what I was doing, I snatched the book from his grasp and handed it to Ginny.

"_Speciails revelio!" _she recited the incantation. Nothing happened.

"See? I told you all it was perfectly fine," Harry snapped irritably.

The only thing was, when he took it back, he let the book fall from his grasp. Once it hit the floor, the back cover opened up, revealing more of the neat handwriting.

_This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince_

I had heard that name before. I was fairly sure it was safe, but I had no idea what the owner of the nickname had become, or what he was when he wrote those notes. When we were in school together, he had shown me some of what he had written, even creating a couple of spells and writing them down there. I knew I had to leave the room immediately. I might let something slip. This was a bit of a shock to me, that his book was still at the school. I needed to contemplate whether or not to tell Harry, since I had no idea if any of the book's contents could be dangerous to other people or himself.

I left quickly, mumbling some excuse I don't quite remember and headed up to my dormitory, shutting the curtains around my four-poster bed.

Harry Potter was in possession of the book of the Half-Blood Prince, a name we used to use as a sort of joke when we wrote to each other. I was Flower Petal. I remember it as if it was yesterday, even though we stopped with the pennames in our fourth year. A Potter having this particular book in his control could not result in anything good, that I knew from past experience. But how could I tell him? I couldn't just tell him who the Prince was without letting him know who I, and by extension, James, really was.

Now, this may not seem like such a big deal, but that boy I used to be friends with (now a man) had changed a lot. No longer was he so innocent, but rather became obsessed with the Dark Arts ever so slowly.

The Half-Blood Prince is none other than Severus Snape.

After a few more minutes of solitary thought, the rest of the sixth year girls entered and fell asleep quickly. I wish I had been so fortunate, rather ending up lying awake in the dark, thinking over my situation for several hours until I, too, fell into a dreamless sleep.

**A/N: So, this chapter was shorter than I wanted it to be, but oh, well. You can't have everything, I guess. Thank you to everybody who has read this story, it has gotten over 900 views so far! I honestly can't believe it. Please leave a review if you can!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven: The Christmas Party**

**A/N: For those of you who were waiting for this, there is a little bit of Jily friendship in this chapter (you'll have to wait a bit for the romance) and even a small spat. Enjoy! And I'm sorry about all the spelling/grammar mistakes in the previous chapter for those who read it as soon as it was published, but I did re-read it and fixed the errors. Sorry about that!**

As expected, once Slughorn found out I was here, he immediately invited me into today's Slug Club, and since the Christmas holidays were starting in a couple of weeks, I was invited to his annual Christmas dinner. I accepted, of course, since some of his gatherings were actually quite fun, although there was one problem. James was invited too. I honestly have no idea why; he was not extraordinarily skilled at potions, but he had somehow managed to charm his way in.

Either way, he walked down the corridor with Harry and I, when we saw Harry's date-as-a-friend Luna Lovegood standing near the Ravenclaw Tower.

When she joined us, she spoke up: "I'm sorry about your godfather, Harry."

James and I exchanged confused glances.

"Your godfather? What happened to him?"

"He was Harry's father's best friend, Sirius Black. A nice man, but people thought he was evil, they thought he was one of You-Know-Who's followers. He died last year in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries," Luna explained in her usual dreamy voice.

Upon hearing this news, James turned white as a sheet and rushed off towards the Gryffindor tower. I followed, knowing fully well how much he had cared for his best friend. We probably alarmed Harry and Luna with our reaction, but at this point, I didn't care much; the announcement had startled me, too. As annoying as the Marauders were, they weren't bad people.

"I'll join you lot there," I said, not wanting to explain my sort-of enemy's reaction just yet.

I sprinted through the deserted corridors in pursuit of James. This proved to be difficult since his legs were much longer than mine, and I was not much of a runner, myself. When I finally arrived, I was shocked at the scene before me. Something I had never thought I would ever see. James Potter. Slumped in an armchair. Crying.

Wordlessly, I signaled for him to scoot over and sat down beside him, letting him cry into my shoulder. It wasn't really on my own volition; it was more like an instinct, one that told me to comfort someone when they were distraught.

"It's okay. I know it hurts, but it's okay, you'll be okay," I murmured a string of soft-spoken, comforting words into his ear.

After a few minutes of this, James seemed to finally realize what was going on and that it was I, his long-time crush, who was sitting so close to him, since he sat up abruptly and tried to compose himself.

"Evans?" he asked. "Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me, you hate me."

I sighed.

"I don't hate you, Potter, and let's just make that clear. You annoy the hell out of me, but I don't hate you," I didn't want to hurt him further at the moment. "And I'm helping you because, well, because I know how much you love Sirius. It must hurt more than I could imagine to hear that he's died."

"Thanks," was all he seemed to manage, but I took it nonetheless and he relaxed into the armchair again.

For a while, we just sat there, talking. Strange, how only something as significant as a death could get me to reach out to him, if only as a friend. I still couldn't see us becoming anything more.

"You know, though, Sirius isn't really dead in our time. He's still your best friend," I said after a couple of minutes.

"Yeah, but just to know he dies so young, and while most of the population thought he was a Death Eater as well…"he trailed off. "And at this point, I don't even know if we're going to get back to our time anyways. We got here by freak accident, and Dumbledore won't send us back until he's sure it's safe. What if there is no safe way to get back? What if we get stuck here forever? I'll never get to see Padfoot again. And what about Moony and Wormtail? What if they're dead too?" his emotions seemed to get the better of him, bringing out all of his worries.

"If any of that is the case, then we will deal with it," I said soothingly.

"Alright."

"Now, why don't we get to that party? There is no need to worry about this now, and people are going to wonder what happened to us."

As we walked to the dungeons, James returned to his old self.

"So, hanging out in the common room sweet-talking. A pretty good first date, huh?"

I whirled to face him, checking to see if anyone was nearby, including looking at the ceiling for Peeves, the notorious poltergeist.

"James Potter. That. Was. Not. A. Date." I said forcefully. "You were upset, and I was comforting you. I honestly thought we could be friends with the way that went, but you just had to go along and suggest a romantic attachment, didn't you?"

"Lily, I'm sorry, okay. I just got caught up in the moment," he said, the sadness back in his eyes. I guess he did, in fact, realize how strong my conscience is on that first day when I yelled at him, after all.

"I'm sorry," I said with a sigh. "Now let's just go."

James smiled as we walked, clearly satisfied with how his guilt strategy had worked out. Eventually, we arrived at the party where I saw an uncomfortable Hermione with a happy Cormac McLaggen, the repulsive boy from the Keeper tryouts, near the mistletoe. I abandoned James to go help her out.

"Hey, Hermione!" I said as casually as possible. "There's some amazing food over there," I gestured to the opposite side of the room as the mistletoe. "Why don't we go get something to eat, I'm starving."

"Sure. I'll be back in a minute, Cormac," she tried to sound cheerful, although the gratefulness I saw in her eyes showed me she really wanted to escape.

"Thanks," she whispered once we were out of earshot.

"Not a problem. Just one question, though," I replied. "Why are you here with him anyways? He's the biggest prat I've ever met, and he doesn't seem to be charming you either."

"I thought he would annoy Ron the most, with him going out with Lavender and all." I had almost forgotten Ron and Lavender were together, seeing as I had my own issues to deal with.

"I knew you liked Ron!" I exclaimed, changing the tone of the conversation. I really did love being right.

"Yes, well Harry told me you disappeared with Kyle on your way here right after Luna mentioned how Sirius Black died," I should have expected that.

_Crap. _I thought. _How am I going to get myself out of this one?_

"He, um, he had a stomachache," I answered lamely. "I had to take him to the hospital wing. He's fine now, though."

"All right, then," Hermione tried to sound cheerful and relaxed, but I knew she didn't believe me.

After the celebrations were over, and Harry had mysteriously disappeared after the Slytherin boy, Draco Malfoy was caught gatecrashing; I walked through the corridors with James, talking. We used our real names, since we were certain there was nobody nearby. We were wrong, however, Ginny Weasley was only a few meters away, and she heard every word.

**Ooh, cliffhanger! Sorry about that, but I thought the rest of my chapters were somewhat lacking there. I might not be able to update tomorrow, I'm going to be really busy, but chapter eight will be up ASAP.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight: She Knows**

**A/N: I felt so cruel, writing a cliffhanger then not updating like that, but I was at a two-day leadership seminar/camp and didn't have access to a computer or Internet right after having an insanely busy day on Wednesday. I think my friend wanted to kill me once she read chapter seven!**

**Enjoy chapter eight.**

I was unaware that she knew, at least, not until the next day after classes, when she took the opportunity of my free time to confront me.

"Hey Leigh, do you think you could help me with this divination question, I can't seem to figure it out," she asked.

"Yeah, sure," I, clueless of her true purpose, helped her out. "Basically, when looking into crystal balls, the picture is hazy and unclear to most witches and wizards, only a true Seer is able to see a clear image."

"Thanks, Leigh, or should I even be calling you that?"

_This can't be good, _I thought.

"Um, excuse me?"

"I was walking right behind you and 'Kyle' when you were talking on the way back from Slughorn's party," she stated, getting right to the point, even making air quotations around the word "Kyle."

_How come we didn't see her? We are such idiots! _I was panicking at this point.

"Yeah, so?" I tried playing innocent, putting on my best attempt at a confused expression, although it probably looked more like a grimace.

"You called him Potter and he called you Evans. He looks just like Harry, but with your eyes. You both nearly had a panic attack when you found out Sirius Black died last year. Who are you and where did you really come from? It's fairly obvious you aren't from Durmstrang," she really was intelligent.

"Alright, alright," I checked to make sure there was truly nobody nearby. "My real name is Lily Evans and Kyle's name is James Potter. He, being the insufferable idiot that he is, lit a crystal ball on fire during a divination class, sending us here. The professors know, but no one else, and have been trying to find a safe way to get us back to our time; 21 years ago. Also, the professors are annoyingly insistent that we know nothing of our futures," I added, still annoyed I couldn't know.

"Wow," Ginny was lost for words. "You're _the _Lily Evans and James Potter? I can't believe it."

"What are you talking about? Surely you've met at least the older version of James, him being Harry's dad and all."

She blushed: "Oh, yes. Of course."

I swear, having everybody but me know what happens in my life, and Potter's, for that matter, was like reading a book and having to look out for spoilers.

"Just one thing," I said.

"What is it?"

"Please do not tell anybody, _anybody, _who we really are," one person may know, but that does not mean anybody else should.

"Not even Harry, Ron and Hermione?"

"Especially not them. James is Harry's dad; what do you think he would do if he found out he had accidentally befriended a younger version of his_ own father_? It's not as much of a big deal for me, I haven't seen any student here who could be mine, but if they know about me, they will realize who Potter is," Ginny's cheeks flushed again as though she knew something.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she had regained her composure after the initial shock.

"I wish I knew. I haven't the slightest clue as to how to get back," I explained. "The professors say it's not safe to try what got us here in the first place," I was still really mad at James for that, the idiot. "I think we should talk to Dumbledore about you knowing. I'm not sure how he'll react and I want his opinion."

"No problem. Should we get Ky– er, James?"

"Sure. I think he's in the Great Hall"

The two of us walked down the corridors, Ginny asking me about myself the whole way, until we finally reached the Great Hall. Along the way, several paintings started following us, walking from one frame to the next, clearly intrigued by this revelation.

"Hey, Kyle, could you come with Ginny and I for a minute?" I said, noticing how Harry's head snapped up at the sound of his best friend's sister's name.

"Sure," I may not like James, but it was extremely helpful how he didn't question what I was doing, especially at times like this.

Wordlessly, Ginny and I dragged James out into the corridors until we were sure there was nobody around. We slipped into a dark corner where James listened carefully to how Ginny had found out about us and how she wouldn't tell anybody.

"You know," he said, "I still don't get why we can't tell people."

"Because, Potter, how do you think Harry would react knowing he befriended a younger version of his own father?" I gave the same explanation as I had given Ginny a few minutes previous. "Honestly."

"Right, right. Well, let's go talk to Dumbledore, then."

Once in front of the large stone gargoyle, I stated the password, having been up to Dumbledore's office multiple times to discuss what was going on.

"Acid Pops."

The statue leapt to the side, revealing a large stone staircase. We walked to the top and James knocked three times on the oak door.

"Enter," the headmaster's voice sounded from inside the office. "Ah, Miss Evans and Mister Potter, I trust you bring good news? Or perhaps not," he added, upon seeing our expressions. We both moved over to reveal Ginny standing behind us, previously hidden behind James' broad-shouldered figure. "Miss Weasley! I did not see you there. I assume I would be correct to guess that you figured out our little secret?"

"Yes, sir. I was walking behind James and Lily and heard them use their real names. It wasn't their fault; I was far enough behind that they couldn't see me but I could hear them."

"I see. And do you plan on telling anybody else about this?"

"No, sir. Lily told me you didn't want anybody to know."

"Yeah, I still don't get that," James stated shamelessly.

"James!" I exclaimed, incredulous that he would say something so disrespectful to Dumbledore. He grinned. "What?" I snapped, annoyed.

"You called me James."

"Are you serious? Our biggest secret was just revealed, and you care that I used your first name? Ugh, never mind," I gave up. "What do you suggest we do, professor?" I turned to Dumbledore, who was still chucking slightly at my redaction to James.

"Well, unless you do not trust Ginevra's ability to keep a secret, I suggest you continue on as normal."

"You don't think we should do anything?"

"I don't see why not. Miss Weasley, here, is a trustworthy person, or so I have been told, not having talked to her much. Minerva and myself will continue to find a safe way to get you two back, this is only a small bump in the road, nothing to worry about," he did have a very good way of convincing people of his way of seeing things.

"Alright." James and I responded in unison.

**A/N: There's not much to say here. Again, I'm sorry for not updating, I feel bad about that.**

**Please review, it means so much! I love hearing from you guys!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine: Hogsmeade**

**A/N: There isn't a lot for me to say, although I would like to thank l0velylily for reviewing tree times, following AND favoriting this story. Thanks for your support!**

**One more thing, if you have not read the Harry Potter books and only seen the movies, there's an excerpt here from one of Snape's memories that includes more detail as to why Lily and Severus stopped being friends. Enjoy!**

As Dumbledore had anticipated, life continued as normal, although now there was finally someone who I could be my true self around when we were alone (besides James); Ginny. We got along quite well, although it was annoying when that telltale blush would creep up her cheeks, indicating that she knew something that I didn't. And she couldn't tell me a thing.

Classes were going well; in Potions, Slughorn favored Harry and I, which I admittedly enjoyed a bit, even though it could be embarrassing when he praised us. During Defence Against the Dark Arts, Snape tried several times to apologize to me for our fifth year, but a few angry retorts from me were enough to let him know he would never be forgiven, that I was still mad at him (he seemed reluctant to give me detention, almost as though he was afraid of me). The 'Mudblood incident', as I called it, may be 22 years ago to him, but was still all too fresh in my brain.

***Flashback***

_"Petrificus Totalus!" Sirius shouted, and Snape keeled over, rigid as a board._

_"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I shouted, my wand out, James and Sirius eyeing it warily._

_"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," said James earnestly._

_"Take the curse off him, then!"_

_James sighed deeply, then turned to Snape and muttered the counter-curse._

_"There you go," he said, as Snape struggled to his feet. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus –"_

_"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"_

_I blinked back a tear, something I rarely did; I prided myself on my toughness._

_"Fine," I said coolly. "I won't bother you in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus"_

_"Apologize to Evans!" James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him._

_"I don't want YOU to make him apologize," I shouted, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is."_

_"What?" yelped James. "I'd NEVER call you a – you-know-what!"_

_"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK," I said what I had been longing to say for the past four years; my anger at both boys coming out in a rush._

_With that, I turned on my heel and hurried away._

_"Evans!" James shouted after me. "Hey, EVANS!"_

_I was no longer listening and didn't bother to turn back._

***End of flashback***

Neither boy would be forgiven any time soon, although they both tried.

Aside from the occasional drama and awkwardness, life was good. The winter holidays were coming up soon, and there was a Hogsmeade trip this weekend. James, as expected, asked me to join him.

"Hey, Ev- er, Leigh!" he ran to catch up to me after a Transfiguration class. "You going with anybody to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"No and no," I anticipated his next question.

"Hey, you didn't even get to hear what I was going to say next!"

"And what was that?" I replied, my voice practically dripping with sarcasm.

" I was going to say 'and I suppose you won't want to go with me,'" he said in a fake dejected voice, which soon became elated, a cheeky grin spreading across his features. "So, since you said no, that means you WILL go with me!"

"You are such a slimy weasel!" I said. "I would rather go with a Dementor."

"Fine," he grumbled. "You won't be able to avoid me forever! One of these days, you will fall for me."

"Sure, you keep thinking that while I stay where I am, here in the world of Reality," I smirked, quite happy with my quick comeback.

In the end, I decided to accept Hermione's invitation and go with her along with Ron, Harry and (sadly) James, since I didn't exactly enjoy the prospect of being the third wheel on Ginny's date with her boyfriend, Dean Thomas.

"So, I guess the Dementor said no, then?" James said sarcastically as the five of us walked to Hogsmeade through the bitterly cold wind and snow.

"Dementor?" Ron asked.

"I asked Leigh, here, if she wanted to go with me to Hogsmeade, and she said she would rather date a Dementor, and yet, here we are. So, I say again, I guess the Dementor said no?" Geez, I really hated this guy sometimes.

"Oh, ha-ha, you think you're so funny, do you?" I said.

"Actually, yes, I do," he replied, and even though I couldn't see his face through his scarf, I could hear his usual smirk in his voice.

We remained silent the rest of the way, scarves protecting most of our faces from the cold.

Once we arrived, we saw that most of the shops were closed down due to the imposing threat of the Death Eaters, although the more popular shops like Honeyduke's and the Tree Broomsticks remained open for us. We went first into the overcrowded candy store, and, after making a couple of purchases, promptly left. I love Honeyduke's and all, but it was so busy there, it was nearly suffocating.

The five of us went next to the Three Broomsticks, and managed to find a table. Sadly, it also happened to be right in the line of view of Ginny and Dean's table.

"Oh, bloody hell," Ron said upon seeing his little sister.

"Honestly, Ronald, they're only holding hands!" Hermione said, exasperated. "And… snogging…" she added somewhat awkwardly.

We stayed for a couple more minutes to finish our butterbeer, but decided to leave, all of us getting annoyed by Ron's muttered swearing directed at Dean. I think Harry was also glad to be out of there, it looked as though he was about to split the table in half, he gripped it so hard every time he saw Ginny and Dean kiss.

On the way back to school, we walked behind the Gryffindor Chaser, Katie Bell, and her friend, a Ravenclaw girl I didn't recognize. I didn't see much of them; I used my scarf to cover my eyes, linking arms with Hermione to guide me, until a scream sounded from the lips of Katie's friend. I looked up just in time to see Katie hoisted into the air, her hair fanning out around her head, her mouth open in a silent cry. She looked as though she was being tortured, although by what or whom, I have no idea. There was nobody else nearby, the only thing I did notice was a parcel, open on the ground, a little glint of silver visible from inside.

**A/N: Please leave a review if you have time; they are what inspire me to keep writing. **

**The next chapter will be a little lighter, less action, and I will try to get it up today if I can.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter ten: Christmas**

**A/N: As promised, this chapter is much lighter, a bit of a filler, but I thought that there was just too much action and the story seemed a bit rushed to me. Here, there will be some drama, some friendship and maybe even a little romance!**

**I will be following the plot of the book and not the movie, so there will be no burning of the Burrow here. (It seriously bothered me how they added that in the movie)**

The winter holidays were now just around the corner, but instead of being excited, as I usually am, I was actually quite sad. It may seem odd, but only now had it really dawned on me that I couldn't see my family this year. I suppose it's because I have been going to Hogwarts for over five years now, and am used to being away from home for months on end. But I always went home for the holidays, especially for Christmas.

Right now was one of those times where I had nothing to do but think, resulting in me being curled up by the fire in the Gryffindor common room with my head in between my knees, almost (but not quite) in tears. It was one of those moments where you just don't want anybody to see you; you are in your weakest state.

Sadly for me, James Potter decided that this was the perfect time to come over and flirt with me.

"Hey, Evans, since we're not going home for Christmas this year, I may just have the chance to trap you under the mistletoe that's all over the castle this time of year, huh?" he said in his infuriatingly cocky tone.

"Would you just shut up and stop hitting on my for just one minute?" I snapped.

"Relax! Hey, what's gotten into you?"

"I'm just not in the mood, Potter," I said, more quietly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" a voice said from the portrait hole.

I jumped, thinking somebody may have heard us use our real names, until I realized it was just Ginny.

"I wish I knew, she's being all snippy with me for no reason," James replied, turning towards Ginny.

"You, go away. Let me talk to Lily for a minute," Ginny jumped to my rescue.

"You girls are all over the place," James grumbled as he walked up to his dormitory. "How are we supposed to keep up?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and came over to me.

"What's wrong?" she asked soothingly.

I sighed. "I'm just a bit distraught; I just remembered that I won't be able to spend the holidays with my family this year."

"Why don't you come stay with my family, then? My mum loves meeting my school friends."

"Are you sure? That's a lot to ask…" I was grateful, don't get me wrong, but I did not want to feel like I was taking advantage of our friendship.

"Of course not. Harry stays with us all the time, and my mum will absolutely love you and James!"

"James?" I said, a bit annoyed at her for bringing _him _up.

"Yeah. Ron invited him; they've become good friends," she explained.

"Are you sure your mum can handle him? He's a bit of a troublemaker."

"If you think he's bad, you should meet my brothers, Fred and George, they're twins. They graduated just last year," Ginny laughed.

"Well, if you're sure it's not too much trouble, I'd love to stay with you," I smiled.

"Great! I'll send an owl to my parents."

Within a matter of days, James, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione and I were on the Hogwarts Express, heading to the Weasleys' home, referred to as the Burrow.

Once there, we were welcomed quite warmly by Mrs. Weasley, a plump woman with a big smile and the same red hair as her children. We also met the famous Weasley twins, who, as it turns out, had recently opened a joke shop by the name of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. As Ginny had expected, James took an immediate liking to the two. There was also Bill Wealsey and his girlfriend, Fleur Delacour, the latter seemed nice enough, although she was often very critical of the way Mrs. Weasley ran her household. I was told there were two other siblings that weren't home. One, I think his name was Percy, worked for the Ministry and had distanced himself from the family quite a bit over the past couple of years, and then Charlie was in Romania, where he worked with dragons, I was told. This household must have been chaotic when all these kids still lived under one roof.

Crowded or not, the Weasley house was the warmest and most welcoming I had ever entered. The one disadvantage: James Potter. Fred and George seemed to have decided that James and I should become a couple, not unlike everyone I met, so the three of them set up mistletoe all over the place and even charmed some of them so that when you stood under it, you were glued to the spot until someone kissed you. I, luckily, had not fallen victim, but Mrs. Weasley had to be saved by her husband multiple times, and vice-versa. The rest of us noted where each branch hung and avoided those spots at all costs.

The worst part was that Ginny decided she wouldn't help me, but would help the twins; attempting to get me stuck under a branch for James to find.

"Come on," she said, " admit it, you two would make a cute couple."

"Gin, I have said it before and I will say it again: I would rather marry a troll."

She blushed again.

"Have you noticed, whenever you want to say something to me you know you shouldn't, you blush," I pointed out.

We chatted for a while longer, until, eventually, we left for dinner.

The food was delicious, as always, but my appetite was somewhat ruined by James.

"Hey, Leigh, have you seen all the mistletoe around the house?"

"I have, and I don't plan to stand under it while you are in the same building as me."

"We'll see," his smirk at that point would have made any Slytherin proud.

"I would love to argue with you, Perie, but I will be polite and just ignore you for the sake of everyone else here."

If only it were possible.

"Let's just say I plan on getting my Christmas miracle this year," he and the twins all grinned. This could not mean anything good on my part.

I ignored him for the duration of the meal after that.

The next afternoon, I found out what it was that Fred and George had set up for him, and I was right; it was not meant for my benefit.

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and I was heading outside to do some of the work I was assigned for the holidays. Unsuspecting, I told Ginny where I was going, and she apparently tipped off Fred and George who somehow managed to set up some of their enchanted mistletoe in the outside doorway, set up some sort of device to trip me as I walked past AND get James to be right outside the door all in the amount of time it took me to leave mine and Ginny's room and reach the back door. I have no idea how they managed to do it, but they did. I had to hand it to Fred and George: When it came down to pranks, they were geniuses.

So, I was about a meter from the door when their plan came into action. Their little device tripped me, not quite causing me to fall, but effectively preventing me from looking for and avoiding the stupid plant.

I got stuck.

"Well, hello there, Evans," James strolled over to me. "Nice seeing you outside on a nice day like today!"

"Shut up and let me go!" I said angrily.

"Gladly," he leaned in as if to kiss me.

"No," I put my hand over his mouth to stop him. "I'm sure there's another way."

"Ah, but that is where you're wrong," he kept up his smug attitude, despite my reaction. "Fred and George charmed it themselves so that you can't escape unless someone kisses you, and, it seems as though I'm the only one nearby to help you out of your little predicament."

"I really hate you," I glared at him. "_Incendio!" _I pointed my wand at the branch. Nothing. "_Reducto!" _stillnothing. "_Diffindo! Obliviate! Sectumsempra!' _I tried the spell Snape had showed me a couple of tears ago, to no avail.

"You can't destroy it. You have to let me kiss you."

"I really hate you."

The next thing I knew, he was kissing me, right on the lips.

**A/N: I loved writing that last part; I love romance!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter eleven: The Marauders Reunited**

**A/N: I would like to say a huge thank you to The-Delectable-May-Reach for their suggestion for this chapter. Thank you so much! Your idea was a huge help and it fits perfectly into the plot.**

From chapter ten:

_The next thing I knew, he was kissing me, right on the lips._

Back to chapter eleven:

The rest of the day went by in a daze.

_He kissed me. I kissed James freaking Potter. Did I like it? _I asked myself. **_No, of course not. I hate him. He's an insensitive jerk!_**_ But he didn't seem insensitive when he was kissing me, did he? _There was that nagging voice in the back of my head: I was at war with myself. **_I hate him!_**_ Do I? __**Yes!**__ Are you sure? __**Yes, of course.**__ No you're not._

This is why I hate my brain sometimes: I'm always arguing with myself. I will sometimes spend over an hour sitting down somewhere, the logical and emotional parts of my mind arguing over who is right. It's almost as though I have two polar opposite people living inside my head.

Stupid brain.

I was lucky today, or maybe not; Fred and George came by, snapping me out of my thoughts, coming over and sitting on either side of me.

"Hey, Leigh," said Fred.

"A little bird told us –" George continued.

"That our little plan –"

"Worked very well," they said at the same time.

Did they always have to finish each other's sentences? It was very confusing.

"Oh, so Perie is a bird, now, is he?"

They walked off, laughing to themselves, probably planning their next master prank. As irritating as they were at times, they and their jokes were often quite funny, I must admit.

I returned to the house from my seat under a large willow tree on the Weasley's property; I couldn't avoid James forever. Once there, I was greeted by a sight I did not expect: There were two _more _people sitting in the living room with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, one of whom looked strangely familiar, almost in the same way that I recognized Snape. This man had sandy hair and scars all over his face, while the woman sitting beside him (the one I did not recognize) was shorter with bright purple hair.

"Leigh, come in dear!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed when she saw me in the hall. "I would like you to meet Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin."

Lupin. The man sitting on the couch was Remus Lupin. That was where I had met him before. He was a Marauder and a prefect; we would often patrol the corridors together. He was the only Marauder I actually considered as a friend, and here he was in front of me, only he was twenty years older.

"G–good to meet you," I stuttered, realizing I was staring.

"You must be Leigh," said Nymphadora. "Call me Tonks, by the way."

"She's not exactly fond of her first name," Remus explained.

All I could do was nod.

Then, just to make the situation even more awkward, James decided to walk in and try to wrap his arms around me.

"Don't," I threatened. "Try. Anything."

"Remus, Tonks, this is Kyle," Mr. Weasley interrupted.

James' head promptly snapped up to look at his best friend; he looked as though he wanted to go hug the man who was now in his late thirties.

"Yeah, I don't mean to be rude, but I, uh, I have to go." James bolted up the stairs.

"Leigh, why don't you go find Ginny? You don't need to concern yourself with what we're discussing at the moment and I'm sure she would like some company," Mr. Weasley saved me.

"Sure. Nice meeting you!" I, too, ran off. I needed to talk to Ginny about this.

I sprinted upstairs without another word where I found Ginny leaving our shared room. I immideately pulled her inside and shut the door, casting one of Snape's spells, "_Muffilatio," _on it.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Ginny knew the protocol for 'I need your help.'

"Remus Lupin is downstairs!"

"So?"

"I know him! He's James' best friend! We used to have prefect duties together!" I was in full panic.

"Did James see him?" she had this uncanny ability to stay calm when I was freaking out.

"Yes, he took one look at him, looked like he would hug him the ran off."

"Did it look like he recognized you two?"

I thought back to it for a second. "Yes, I think he did."

"You and James should go talk to him, then," Ginny suggested.

"Have you gone mad? What do you think Remus would do if he knew it was us?"

"Well, I don't know, but if he was close friends with both of you, don't you think he would realize you're really James Potter and Lily Evans?"

"Alright…" I still wasn't convinced.

Ginny apparently wasn't going to wait for me to change my mind, as she immediately ran downstairs, saying that she had to catch him before he and Tonks returned to their homes. I stayed where I was to think over the situation.

A couple of minutes later, Ginny returned with James right on her heels telling me to come outside with them.

The three of us left the burrow and joined the middle-aged Remus and his friend or girlfriend; I'm not quite sure, Tonks.

"Hey, Moony," James said, a smile of relief that Lupin, unlike Sirius, was still alive, spread across his face.

"Prongs? Is that really you?"

"It sure is, mate."

"How?" Remus asked.

"Allow me to explain," I spoke for the first time since we walked outside.

"This dimwit lit a crystal ball on fire during our sixth year, sending us here, to put a long story short. Nobody knows except the professors at Hogwarts, Ginny, who heard us use our real names, and now you two."

"I can't believe it's really you," he said. Now, this was odd, why would he look so sad? Surely he still knew James and I, the older versions, I mean?

"Why do you seem so sad, Remus? It's not as though you haven't seen us for a long time, I mean, we are still friends, right?"

"Oh, yes, of course we are," Remus sighed. "But it is sad for me to see you both so young again."

"Why is that?" James asked.

"I – I can't tell you."

**A/N: Please leave a review; it just makes my day!**

**Thanks again to The-Delectable-May-Reach for your help.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter twelve: Suspicions**

**A/N: I just wanted to say that I made Ginny Lily's best friend because she is honestly one of my favorite characters, and she gets way too much hate. She is strong and courageous and the perfect match for Harry in my opinion. Sorry for the rant.**

The rest of the vacations passed uneventfully. Every time Remus and Tonks would come over, James and I would try to have a conversation alone with them and maybe Ginny, just so that we could have a break from the lies and spend time with our friends. There was just one problem with this: Harry began looking at us with a suspicious expression when we bickered or spent time with Remus. I hope he didn't recognize his dad. Although I'm surprised he hasn't, he's been living with him all his life, hasn't he? Oh, well.

We eventually returned to Hogwarts, but I was also still going trough a bit of turmoil regarding James. The ghost of his lips seemed to haunt my own. I just couldn't stop thinking about it. The louder voice in my head was calling him a jerk (as well as a few other, more vulgar names), but there was still that quiet, nagging voice that said that I was falling for him.

I tried to ignore it.

It didn't work.

Every time I was caught glancing at him, with his rectangular glasses and his messy black hair, Hermione and Ginny would share a grin of satisfaction, while Harry looked all the more wary of us. I was really beginning to hate the fact that everything that affected me seemed to affect him, too. He was determined to be a leech on my skin.

Soon, though, James was distracted (thank goodness) by an upcoming Quidditch game against Slytherin. I wasn't all that interested, but decided I would go to support, Harry, Ginny and Ron. Not James. People can think what they may, but I was NOT going there to support him. No matter how cute it was when his hair was ruffled by the wind. Crap. I have said it before and I will say it again, I hate that tiny part of my brain that says I like James. I don't. It will never happen.

The day before the game, Ron seemed very nervous. According to Ginny, he hadn't been performing too well during practices and was afraid he would cause the Gryffindor team to lose the cup. I had to agree. Ginny had convinced me to go to one of their practices (I stayed or about ten minutes to be polite), and, while the rest of the team, including Ginny who did not seem nervous in the slightest, played beautifully, Ron fumbled quite a bit. By the morning of the game he was a delicate shade of green.

I noticed something at breakfast before the match. Harry had in his hand and was stowing away a small vial filled with golden liquid. It was the Felix Felicis he had won that day in Potions class with his Draught of Living Death. He had put some in Ron's goblet of pumpkin juice and was encouraging him to take some.

"Stop!" Hermione and I said together.

"What?" Ron turned greener at our outburst.

"Harry, you could be expelled for that!" Hermione ignored Ron.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he replied, maybe a little too quickly.

"Harry, she's right. Ron, don't drink it," I said as Ron was eyeing his goblet.

"Was it a tonic?" asked the dreamy voice of Luna Lovegood from a few meters away.

"Harry put some of his liquid luck in Ron's goblet!" Hermione's face was turning red. "He could be expelled if Ron drinks that before the game!"

Harry repeated what he had said before: "I don't know what you two are talking about. Ron, have a drink, you'll feel better."

Ron drank. A grin spread across his freckled face. Hermione, on the other hand, looked as though she wanted to strangle Harry, her face a mask of anger surrounded by increasingly bushy hair.

With that, the Quidditch players left the Great Hall.

A little while afterwards, I headed down to the pitch myself, Hermione still fuming beside me, and Luna just in front, her lion hat roaring every once in a while.

The game wasn't going too well. The new Slytherin beaters, I think their names were Crabbe and Goyle, were ruthless, sending bludgers everywhere, trying to hit Harry in particular.

Ron was doing quite well. I could not really compare; I had missed all the other games, but I assumed it was the potion at work.

After about a half an hour and many amazing saves made by Ron, Harry caught the Snitch. That, however, was the moment where it all went wrong. The commentator, Zacharias Smith (a bit of a jerk, really) announced that Harry had caught the snitch, and the Slytherin beater Crabbe shot a bludger at Harry, apparently out of spite. The one thing was that he had not been aiming at Harry at all, but James, who has the same messy dark hair as his son. The ball sped by and hit him on the side of his head. Thankfully, Crabbe's aim was not the best, so it didn't hit him too hard, not enough to kill him (which could have happened), but enough to knock him off his broom.

Spectators rushed to his aid, including myself. I pushed my way to the front of the crowd: He was out cold, but still breathing.

Madam Hooch managed to push her way through the crowd as well and instantly levitated James, walking in the direction of the hospital. I followed; wanting to make sure he was okay and not wanting to stay on the pitch any longer.

Once at the hospital, madam Pomfrey announced that he would be fine, but would need to take a couple of days to be able to leave the hospital wing.

For the next few days, I found myself visiting James often. I'm not sure what made me do it, but I did, sitting by his bed after classes and during free periods. I would sit by him and complete the mountains of homework.

Because of my antics, I could see Harry becoming more and more suspicious while Ginny seemed all the more smug. I still refuse to think that I have feelings for James, I really don't, but Ginny was insistent. She was constantly nagging me to go out with him, but I refused every time. What was the point? It was obvious that James eventually moved on from me; his son was here as proof!

_Are you so sure that he's not your son too? He does have your green eyes, that has been pointed out by several people… _The voice inside my head was back. **_He is not mine! _**_Are you sure? __** Of course I'm sure! I hate James. I always will. **__But you don't hate him now, do you? You visit him every day._ The quiet voice was getting stronger, but I still would not think about the possibility of falling in love with James. It would never happen. _Or will it?_

I argued with myself for a few more minutes while I was sitting beside James once again. That was when he woke up.

"Lily?" James's hazel eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, yeah, it's me."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm not sure," I answered without a hint of sarcasm or venom.

I realized only then what was happening: I really am falling for my once archenemy.

**A/N: Please leave a review; I want to know how I'm doing with this story.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter thirteen: Confusion**

**A/N****_: IMPORTANT!_**** So I was wondering if I should do the next chapter as a kind of repeat of this one, but from James' POV. I asked my friend already (thanks, Vicky!), and she said it would be a good idea, but just in case, I want to know what you guys think. It would basically to explain why James acts the way he does and how he perceives the whole situation. Please let me know in the form of a review or private message.**

I had never felt so awkward in my whole life as in that moment.

To make matters even worse, immediately after my brief conversation with James in the hospital wing, I ran for my life. Well, it felt like my life was at risk at the time. I was so humiliated for being seen spending every possible moment at the bedside of my unconscious so-called enemy, it was in no way funny. Ginny disagreed and seemed to take great joy in teasing me about it.

Why on Earth would I even do that in the first place? I mean, it wasn't like I was weeping over his sleeping self, confessing my love for him or anything; I mostly just did homework and studied.

Well, I did 'admit my love for him' in a way, although only to myself, and it wasn't love, that's taking it too far, more like a mild attraction. A small crush, if you will.

James was also acting strangely: He had almost completely stopped flirting with me, and never mentioned anything about our encounter in the hospital.

I wonder how hard that Bludger had hit him…?

In fact, this behavior was so out of character for James, I began to worry. It wasn't as though I disliked the way he was acting, but it was weird not having him breathing down my neck all the time. Again, not that I'm complaining, I'm really not! This new James was quite the improvement, actually.

Either way, I voiced my concerns to Ginny who offered me no help whatsoever, only giving me a smug look and her telltale blush.

I cannot emphasize how much it bothered me that I still don't know anything.

"I still think you should give the poor bloke a chance. Maybe he's just showing that he's matured!" Ginny said enthusiastically.

"Right, and one day Luna's nargles will rule the world!" I laughed it off.

"We'll see."

Did she really have to be so cryptic?

I rolled my eyes at her, not having anything to say as a response.

Meanwhile, Harry and James were standing on the other side of the common room, talking and glancing over at us every once in a while. Well, I knew they had become good friends, as well as the fact that Harry fancies Ginny (he was not being as subtle as he thought) and James might still fancy me, although he may have finally given up. Of course, he just had to do so just after I had gained some interest.

I admit it; I can now sort of imagine a situation where we had a relationship. Why now, of all times, though? I'm not sure. My feelings for him had intensified over the past week or so since he left the hospital, becoming more and more like a real crush, maybe due to the fact that he _did _seem more mature than a month ago, he had stopped talking back to teachers (as much as before) and he no longer tried to make any moves on me, something I found only decreased our previous chances at a relationship.

This continued on for quite a while, until he finally approached me while I was sitting outside doing more of my homework. We never seemed to get a break with that, especially since N.E.W.T.s were coming up next year, although I hoped that by that time when we were in our seventh year James and I would be back where we belong.

"Hey, Evans, can I talk to you for a minute?" James strolled up to me.

"All right, but I have loads of work to do, and I'm sure you do too," I felt the need to point that out.

He didn't seem to hear that last part, as he promptly made himself comfortable maybe a little close to me, and put on his usual cheeky grin. This I was more used to.

"What's been up with you lately?" I demanded, suddenly needing an explanation.

"In what way?"

"You've been acting strangely towards me. It's unnerving."

"What have I been doing exactly?" I could tell he was avoiding the question.

"You've just been acting differently. I'm used to having you trailing after me like some sort of lovesick puppy, it's just a little odd for me, that's all," I tried not to make it seem like I suddenly _wanted_ his attention, that was not it at all.

"So you liked it when I did that before?" he asked in a fake innocent tone, a smile forming on his lips.

"Not at all," I defended myself. "In fact it was quite annoying and, to be perfectly honest, you came across as some kind of stalker."

"So, you like the way I'm acting now, then?" this was clearly what he had been expecting from me, but I would not give him the satisfaction of my defeat.

"Well, I suppose it's better than the way you behaved before…" I trailed off thoughtfully. "Anyways, what did you come here to talk to me about?"

"Well, since you seem to like me better now, will you go out with me?" he got straight to the point.

"Oh, God, not this again!" I was really angry with him now, he wasted my time with that stupid conversation, only to ask me the exact same question he's be asking for five years.

"Come on, Lily, please! I just wanted to show you I'm different than before! Just give me a chance!" I almost felt bad for the bloke. _Almost_.

"Just leave me alone, you're as bad as everybody else."

Why was I saying this? I like him now, don't I? It couldn't hurt to give him a chance… What have I done?

"Please," he sounded genuinely hopeless, sadder than I had ever heard from him.

What was I supposed to say now? Should I say yes? Turn him down? I didn't like seeing his usually cheerful, mischievous face look so…heartbroken.

I sighed. _I'm going to have to do the right thing here, aren't I? _"Fine."

"What?" James looked confused, as though I had suddenly started speaking parseltongue.

"I suppose one date won't kill me," I sighed again. _What am I getting myself into?_

"Are you serious?"

"Are you trying to work your way out of it?" I countered.

"Wha– No!" a panicked look crossed his face, making me laugh.

"Would you look at that, you already made me laugh!" Was I flirting with him? What the hell am I doing?

"Alright, then, so why don't you meet me in the common room at around two o'clock on Saturday?"

"Alright. I'll see you then." I waved at James as he walked off, the usual spring back in his step, looking very pleased with himself.

I'm not sure what prompted me to say yes, I just did. Well, there was no way I was about to get out of it this time. I am going on a date with James freaking Potter.

**A/N: Again, please let me know your opinion on having the next chapter told from James' POV in the form of a review or private message, thanks!**

**As always, please leave a review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter fourteen: Confusion – James' side of things**

**A/N: Okay, so I decided (since nobody sent me a message concerning this) that this chapter will be in James' POV. I apologize if this chapter is worse than my others, I find it easy writing from Lily's POV (I'm a lot like her), but I have no idea how well this chapter will work out; I don't have much in common with James.**

**_James' POV_**

I was shocked, to say the least, when I saw none other than Lily Evans sitting by my bed in the hospital after I woke up. Sure, she wasn't staring adoringly at my sleeping form (that would have been asking for too much on my part), but she was there.

The best part was that she seemed embarrassed to be there, like she didn't want to be caught. I decided that she might just have started liking me. I hope she did, although Padfoot did always say I was getting my hopes up whenever I got this impression. Oh, well, he wasn't here to say that now. That thought wiped the grin off my face fairly quickly.

I took a while, just laying in the bed, thinking about what I should do about Lily. I wanted to get her to go out with me, but how should I do that? It wasn't as if any of my other tactics, flirting with her and asking her out as often as I could (not as easy as you might think; there are only so many puns I can make with her name), so I was clearly going to have to try something else.

I think I may be going mad, who knows how hard that Bludger hit me, but I decided I would try being like her. I'm going to try to be good. Well, I'm not a bad person, I just have a sense of humor, but for Lily, I'll try to be less… What was the word she always uses...? Obnoxious? Loud? Cocky? Arrogant? Immature? I'm not sure.

It seemed as though our short conversation in the hospital gave me new determination. It finally seemed like the girl I'd been chasing after for years was finally starting to like me back, and I'm determined not to blow it this time. I even decided to go ask for Ginny Weasley's help, something I had never done. She was close to Lily, and seemed to be on my side when it came to the idea of Lily and I dating.

"Hey, Ginny, can I ask you something?"

"It's about Lily, isn't it?" she asked without even looking up from the copy of the Daily Prophet she was reading.

"What would make you say that?"

Sure, it was about Lily, but I wondered how she knew.

"You have your Lily face on," she replied simply, this time looking up.

"My what?"

"Your Lily face. You get this funny sort of dreamy expression whenever you think about Lily, it's really quite obvious," she explained.

"Oh, well, yeah…" Oops. Now that I think about it, Moony had actually used that term to describe how I looked when thinking about Lily. "Anyways, what happened to her while I was out?"

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"You know what I mean. I woke up yesterday and she was sitting by my bed doing her homework."

"You saw that, huh?" she tried to sound embarrassed for her friend's sake, but I could see a small grin trying to show through. "She was sitting there every minute she could, not to mention the fact that she pushed her way through the crowd when you fell, crouching right beside you."

"Are you joking?" I couldn't believe my ears. "Lily Evans did that?"

"No, I'm serious. She says it's because you both need to get back to your time, and that she wouldn't know how to explain that you fell into a coma or died or something and couldn't go back with her, but we all know that's a load of crap."

"Well, what should I do?" I asked, still shocked.

"If I were you, I would try to grow up a bit. Show her that you're more mature." Ginny blushed as though she knew something.

"That's what I was thinking."

"Perfect. So just try and lay low. Don't flirt with her too much and try to stop talking back to the professors as much."

"Did Lily tell you that those things annoyed her?" I took a guess.

"Maybe."

In other words, I'm right.

"You're sure that this will convince her to go out with me?"

"Positive."

I decided I would take Ginny's advice. She, being a girl and Lily's best friend, would know how to get her to like me, so I went for it, mad as it may seem. For the next little while, I stayed quiet (well, as quiet as I can be) and it seemed to work. Lily now seemed to be paying a little more attention to me and actually didn't respond sarcastically when I asked her to explain the homework.

As an added bonus, the professors seemed to like the 'New James'. At first they were confused as to what had gotten into me, but just accepted t after a few days.

Harry, who I had become friends with, despite him being my son, (that was still a weird thought), was also confused by how I was acting. One day, in the common room, he asked me about it.

"Oi, Kyle!' he called. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, Harry."

"What's been going on, mate, you seem really quiet lately."

"Leigh," I answered, careful not to say 'Lily' or 'Evans'.

"What? Oh, never mind," Harry got what I meant.

"Yeah, Ginny thinks laying low will make her like me better."

"Good idea. She seems to know Leigh the best. Speaking of Ginny, here she is," Harry looked over to the portrait hole.

"And there's Lil– Leigh."

"Did you just call her Lily?" Harry asked, turning to look at me again.

"What? No. I called her Leigh," I tried to act confused. This was not good.

"Are you sure, I could have sworn I heard you say Leigh…" he trailed off.

"You must have heard me wrong."

"Yeah, I guess," he said, still sounding skeptical.

"Anyway," I said, desperate to change the subject. "What about you and Ginny, then?"

"What? Me and Ginny? No."

I snorted. _Denial, _I thought. _It won't work for long._

"Come on, mate, we both know you fancy her."

"Well, maybe, but either way, she's Ron's sister. Completely off limits to me," Harry said, resilient.

"We'll see. Well, I have to go, I got loads of homework from Snape."

I hate Snivellus with a passion; to call Lily Evans, the smartest, kindest, prettiest girl in the school the M word was just wrong of him, not to mention the fact that he's the biggest prat to walk the Earth.

I did as much homework as I could in the common room, but became distracted by the sight of Lily walking down to the lake from my seat in the window. I decided then and there that I had had enough of this 'laying low.' I was going to ask her out.

I walked down to the lake and approached her.

"Hey, Evans, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"All right, but I have loads of work to do, and I'm sure you do too," Of course she had to point that out.

I pretended to not hear her and sat down, making sure that my knee was resting on hers.

"What's been up with you lately?" she demanded, apparently needing an explanation out of the blue.

"In what way?"

"You've been acting strangely towards me. It's unnerving."

"What have I been doing exactly?" I avoided the question.

"You've just been acting differently. I'm used to having you trailing after me like some sort of lovesick puppy, it's just a little odd for me, that's all," I guess Ginny was right, she had noticed the change.

"So you liked it when I did that before?" I asked in a fake innocent tone, a smile forming on my lips.

"Not at all," she defended herself. "In fact it was quite annoying and, to be perfectly honest, you came across as some kind of stalker."

"So, you like the way I'm acting now, then?" This was going quite well for me.

"Well, I suppose it's better than the way you behaved before…" she trailed off thoughtfully. "Anyways, what did you come here to talk to me about?"

"Well, since you seem to like me better now, will you go out with me?" I stated my purpose; I did have stuff to do after all.

"Oh, God, not this again!" she was suddenly angry.

"Come on, Lily, please! I just wanted to show you I'm different than before! Just give me a chance!" Alright, so maybe it wasn't going according to plan.

"Just leave me alone, you're as bad as everybody else."

"Please," I didn't want to sound pathetic, but I went through all that effort to show her that this whole experience had really changed me, and she just flat out turned me down.

She sighed. "Fine."

"What?" I was confused, one second she's mad at me, and the next, she's agreeing to go out with me? Girls are weird.

"I suppose one date won't kill me," she sighed again.

"Are you serious?"

"Are you trying to work your way out of it?" Lily countered.

"Wha– No!" I panicked, making her giggle.

"Would you look at that, you already made me laugh!"

Was she flirting with me? What the hell happened?

"Alright, then, so why don't you meet me in the common room at around two o'clock on Saturday?"

"Alright. I'll see you then." she waved at me as I walked off, quite pleased with how that went.

I can't believe I'm actually going on a date with Lily Evans. This is happening.

**A/N: Wow, that chapter was long! My longest yet! Please please please leave a review; each one inspires me to keep on writing!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter fifteen: The Date**

**A/N: Okay, so that last chapter was not very good, I have discovered that I am not good at switching POVs, so no more of that! Apparently there were a few parts, according to my friends, that sounded very Lily-ish.**

**Also, I just wanted to let you know (for those who haven't already seen it) that I have now published chapter one of the story I mentioned in chapters five and six of this story. It's called Where I Belong, and it's about a girl who gets the chance to go to Hogwarts, so if that interests you (I know there are tons of stories like that already written) please go check it out!**

It is now Saturday at one pm and I am way more nervous than I should be. I have a date with James Potter in an hour and need to find something to wear. I'm not sure why I'm making such a big fuss out of this, it's not like James really cares about what I wear, I could show up in pajamas and he'd probably be happy, but it just feels like I should put some thought into this.

After trying on several outfits, I eventually settle for some plain Muggle clothes, a fitted white t-shirt with a tree design, dark greyish blue jeans and a pair of brown ankle boots.

"Leigh, you look great, just relax," said Hermione, who was in our room studying while I tried on various outfits.

A tense "thanks," was all I could manage.

Two o'clock finally arrived and I headed down to the common room to see James already there, dressed similarly to me in a navy blue t-shirt and jeans.

He smiled at me as I approached him. "Wow, Evans, you look great!" he said after checking to make sure there was nobody else around to hear my real name.

"Thanks," I responded the same way I did for Hermione's complement, awkward smile and all.

"Shall we go, then?" James said, holding out his arm for me to take.

I took his arm lightly, giggling a little (something I didn't do often) at his attempt at chivalry, and we walked out of the familiar common room. Once we were outside, I took a deep breath. I would never get bored of the smell of Hogwarts, the fresh air, the faint hint of parchment and ink, but this time, I smelled something else, it smelled of broom handle wax and something else I couldn't put my finger on. It was oddly comforting, even though it wasn't very familiar to me.

I walked on with James for a while until I finally asked him where it was we were going, exactly.

"You'll just have to wait and see," he grinned knowing it would frustrate me.

I guess he hadn't outgrown the apparent joy he takes in seeing me annoyed with him.

The next few minutes passed in an awkward silence, neither of us with any clue as to what to say to the other as we walked slowly across the grounds. I was racking my brain, trying to think of something, anything, to say that might spark up a conversation. Sadly, the only thing my brain seemed to be able to think of was the feeling of James Potter, my once-enemy, walking so close beside me, our shoulders almost, but not quite, touching.

James led me away from the castle for several more minutes before I realized where we were going.

"Hogsmeade?" I guessed. "But we aren't allowed there, not since the incident with Katie."

"We're not going to Hogsmeade. I got special permission from McGonagall to take you somewhere else. Here we are," he said once we reached an area just outside of the boundaries.

"Excuse me?" I asked, not sure why he chose a gravel path outside of the gates as a good spot for a first date.

"This is the apparation point at Hogwarts, it's mostly used by teachers, but McGonagall allowed me to use it."

"But you don't even know how to apparate! The lessons aren't for another month!" I pointed out.

"Well, actually, Padfoot learned how in our fifth year and he, uh, he taught Moony, Wormtail and I," James said sheepishly.

"You marauders and your constant rule-breaking," I said, trying to sound exasperated, but unable to keep from smiling out of admiration. As much as it seemed like they didn't care about magic, they were highly skilled wizards.

James laughed at this comment, his eyes lighting up at the thought of his best friends and dimples that I had never noticed before appeared on his cheeks. "Well then, let's go."

He took my hand, surprising me a little, before I remembered what I had read on side-along apparation a few months before. James twisted on the spot and suddenly it was like I was being squeezed through an iron tube, a thoroughly unpleasant pressure being applied to my whole body, rendering my breaths short and shallow. Thankfully, this sensation only lasted a few seconds before I landed beside James in a deserted alley.

"Romantic," I commented, causing James to laugh again.

"Sorry about the location, but we had to apparate somewhere the Muggles wouldn't see us," he explained.

"Muggles?"

"We're in London. McGonagall suggested it, she pointed out that Death Eaters wouldn't recognize the difference between the Muggles and us, so it would be safe," he explained what was going on for what felt like the hundredth time. It was his fault, really, he was the one who didn't tell me where we were going in the first place.

We left the dingy alleyway behind and walked out into the busy streets of London, England, passing by workers, teenagers and young families alike, none of them giving us a second glance, all entirely used to seeing young couples walking down the streets. They had no idea how unusual it was to see this particular couple together.

I was fairly familiar with downtown London, and this area, I noticed, was only a couple of blocks away from Diagon Alley. We, however, were not going there, but to a Muggle restaurant for a late lunch, as James put it. I had seen this place before; it was an Italian restaurant and seemed to be pretty good. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised to see that we were going to a Muggle place. James coming from a long line of fairly rich purebloods and all, I didn't think he would think of taking a girl on a date to a small, family-run restaurant.

We sat down at a table near the window and waited for the waitress to come take our order.

"I must say, Potter, I'm impressed. I didn't think you would think of taking me to a place like this," I said when we sat down.

"Well, yeah…" he trailed off. "My parents like to make sure I understand and appreciate the way Muggles live."

Just then, the waitress walked up to our table and took our order. James ordered lasagna while I, since I had already eaten lunch a couple hors prior, asked for a small salad to be polite.

We sat there for a while, talking a bit about really anything we could think of, trying to keep the mood light despite how the school seemed to feel at the moment. The meal was actually quite enjoyable, and I found that I didn't mind being in James' presence for so long, so I suggested we take a detour to Diagon Alley before we left.

Immediately after exiting the Leaky Cauldron a few minutes later, James spotted a shop called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. I recognized the name; I think it's the shop that the Weasley twins owned, so of course James wanted to go in. I entered with him and was amazed by the obvious care and precision there was underneath all the chaos. There were Skiving Snackboxes; sweets used to make the eater sick in various ways in order to be able to leave classes, and signs that read: "WHY ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT YOU-KNOW-WHO? YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT U-NO-POO – THE CONSTIPATION SENSATION THAT'S GRIPPING THE NATION!". There were Canary Creams, which would temporarily transfigure you into a canary, Portable Swamps, as well as Weasley's Wildfire Whizbangs (unstoppable fireworks). Any joke item, even a couple of Muggle products, you could think of would be on the shelves.

James, not at all uncharacteristically, bought basically anything he could get his hands on after getting a personal tour from Fred and George.

Afterwards, I was allowed to choose where we went, and, much to the annoyance of James, I chose Flourish and Blotts, the wizarding bookshop.

I spent as much, if not more, time in the bookstore than James did in the joke shop. I am an avid reader and am always in need of more books, my favorite genres being fantasy and dystopian. I didn't end up leaving until I had so many novels that I almost couldn't see over the stack I now owned.

We walked out to find the street almost as quiet as it was when we had arrived (it was not nearly as busy as during the summer before school started), but I could feel something was slightly off, James clearly feeling the same, tensing up beside me.

A second later, a screech came from the shadows between two buildings.

"Crucio!" A jet of scarlet light missed me by an inch., instead shattering a flowe pot outside of a sweet shop.

Dropping our purchases, James and I whipped out our wands; pointing them in the direction the spell came from.

"Who's there?" I shouted to the seemingly empty street.

At my question, two cloaked and masked figures along with one witch with a mane of insanely curly dark hair stepped out of the corners where they were hiding. The witch spoke first.

"Who do we have here? Two little love birds out for a stroll?" I recognized her voice as the one who attempted to hit me with the Cruciatus curse.

"Now, now, Bellatrix, let's just see if one of these kiddies is a Mudblood and move on, that's all the Dark Lord asked of us. No need to spill purely magical blood," said a male voice.

The woman named Bellatrix let out an irritated noise.

"Bellatrix?" James spoke. "Bellatrix Black? Sirius' cousin?" he spoke that last part almost to himself.

The three Death Eaters turned their attention from me to him.

"I know who you are!" the other man spoke. "It's Potter! Thought you could hide behind some new glasses, eh?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," James said evenly, although he had his wand pointed at Bellatrix's throat. "My name is Kyle Perie, and this here is Leigh Adam. And yourselves?"

"You have no need to know who we are," said the man who had told off Bellatrix, a bit of long, platinum blonde hair visible from under his hood.

"I know who you are," I interjected, knowing suddenly who owned that hair; he was one of Severus' Slytherin friends. "Are you not Lucius Malfoy?"

"Quiet!" Bellatrix shrieked at me, suddenly furious. "Crucio!"

I had no time to dodge the curse, and suddenly a pain worse than a thousand white-hot knives ripped through my whole body as I faintly heard my own scream, along with one other that sounded a bit like my name. I tried to fight it off, and eventually the curse was lifted.

I breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed my wand, which I had dropped, although couldn't manage to fully stand, my legs shook so badly.

"What's your blood status, missy?" Bellatrix asked in a cruel tone. When I didn't answer after an apparently too-long moment, she became angered again. "She must by a filthy Mudblood! Why else would she have not answered? ANSWER ME!"

"Ha– half-blood, my dad's a pureblood, he works in the Ministry, Magical Law Enforcement," I said, regretting it instantly when the second man took out some sort of list.

"She's lying: there's no Adam working in that department!" Malfoy said.

"Little missy doesn't want us to know who she is, then? Let's teach her how to respect her superiors! CRUCIO!"

The pain came back, sending me onto the rough pavement once again, but worse. This time around, I heard even more shouts, but not my own. I could faintly hear James stunning Death Eaters from where he stood.

The curse I was under was only lifted once James started dueling Bellatrix, a scene I saw only briefly before the witch disapparated, her comrades left stunned on the road.

"Lily!" James rushed to my side. "Lily, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," I responded, although not sounding convincing.

"We need to get you back to the castle," James stated, grabbing my arm and disapparating.

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I have no excuse other than writer's block. I wanted something big to happen in this chapter, since the last two were very quiet and romantic. Also, the next chapter won't be done for a while, I'm going away on vacation, but I hope to have it posted by Sunday of next week.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter sixteen: Dreaming**

**A/N: So this chapter was posted later than I intended, but it's done now and I'm back to update regularly!**

**Enjoy chapter sixteen (finally)!**

I woke up and all I could hear were screams. Blood-chilling, shiver-inducing screams. There was someone trying to comfort the screamer, but the poor person, it sounded as though they were being murdered, just wouldn't stop. It took me a moment to realize it was my own screams I was hearing.

It all came back in a rush: me in a small restaurant with James. Walking through Diagon Alley with him. The Death Eaters attacking us, the witch named Bellatrix torturing me.

That was why I had been screaming; I was dreaming that I was back on the once-safe street, pain like white-hot knives slicing into my flesh at the hands of You-Know-Who's followers.

I opened my eyes slowly to see two very concerned faces staring back at me. One was Madam Pomfrey, the school's nurse, and the second was, surprise, surprise, James Potter. They both relaxed when I smiled feebly, straightening their hunched-over backs.

"There you go, Mr Perie, she's fine. Now off to class with you," Madam Pomfrey dismissed James.

He left reluctantly, looking back the whole way, running into a vacant hospital bed. It hurt for me to laugh, but I did anyways.

"Why wasn't he in class?" I asked.

"He heard you shouting and came in from the corridor, refusing to leave until he knew you were alright," the nurse rolled her eyes.

In the past, I would have found that endlessly creepy, however now it actually seemed sweet, almost compassionate. I smiled a little.

"How are you feeling, dear?"

"Alright, although I'm a little sore," I said.

Madam Pomfrey needed no further encouragement, rushing off to a cabinet nearby, returning with some sort of blue liquid. "It'll ease the pain," she told me.

I drank the potion and felt fortunate it was at least tasteless, with a sweet undertone, kind of like nectar. Much unlike many healing potions I had heard of, many of which were bitter, some even making patients feel nauseated with the horrid taste (a bit hypocritical if you ask me). Immediately I felt my tense muscles relax, and the pain eased substantially, fading to a dull ache.

I sighed in relief, leaned back on my pillow and fell asleep instantly.

_I was sitting with Sev under a willow tree by the Black Lake as I had countless times when we were still friends. We were talking. Just talking, I'm not sure what about._

_A while later, Petunia sat down on my other side and joined in on our conversation, before abruptly standing up and running off with a loud screech of "Freak!" I hate it when she calls me that._

_I say with Sev for a while longer, all memories of him calling me a Mudblood wiped from my memory for the time being._

_Eventually, my friend Marlene McKinnon started calling for me, saying I would miss the carriages to Hogsmeade station if I stayed where I was any longer, so naturally, I followed her. I hate being late. We hopped on a carriage, although there was only one, and we were the only passengers. I stared at the scenery, admiring the cliffs around Hogwarts, but when I looked back, where Marlene had been sitting James had now appeared, smirking his classic smirk, Marlene having completely disappeared._

_The carriage pulled by the invisible Thestral stopped outside the Italian restaurant in London where James and I had gone the day before. We walked inside, sat down but stood right back up without having so much as a glass of water._

_"Aren't we going to eat?" I asked._

_James looked at me, confused. The restaurant was now Fred and George's joke shop, but it was empty. The lack of commotion made the shop look almost lost, as though it didn't know what to do with itself. James walked around without touching anything or speaking, just looking._

_He took my hand, and wordlessly pulled me up the stairs situated at the back of the shop, which, I presumed, led to storage, or perhaps the living quarters of the Weasley twins. We discovered the door was locked, however, so we walked back down the spiral staircase that had changed from fire engine red to a rusty brown, to see that the joke products were now stacks of books._

_I picked up a novel, but when I looked at it, the cover and every page were blank. The book then transfigured itself into my wand, which I held tightly, sensing danger. James took my hand a second time and led me outside, where Peter Pettigrew was standing._

_"Hello, Peter!" I said happily. He wasn't a bad bloke, really, just very shy._

_He didn't reply, and when I looked back at him after trying to gage James' reaction, in Peter's place, there now stood the Death Eater Bellatrix, an evil grin on a face that may have once been beautiful._

_The next thing I knew, the pain was back, a pain I had only truly experienced twice while conscious, yet it seemed horribly familiar. As suddenly as it had appeared, the sensation was gone, along with the witch who had inflicted it, and James was helping me up._

_I instantly hugged him. I'm not sure why, but I did. I suppose it was because I wanted comfort, my entire body now throbbing, like the aftershock of an earthquake._

I woke with a jolt, sweating and breathing heavily. When I looked at the window, I saw that it was now nighttime, the afternoon sun that I had fallen asleep under having already gone.

"Lily?" a voice said from the foot of my bed.

I jumped. Could I not have a quiet moment to myself? Just once?

"Who's there?" my voice was hoarse from screaming.

James suddenly appeared beside me; I would have shouted, had my voice not been so raspy.

"Potter? How the hell did you get in here?" I demanded, giving up on talking normally and whispered instead.

"Doesn't matter. How are you? You were screaming again."

"I'm fine, just having a nightmare is all. And yes, it does matter, so answer me: How did you get in here?" I remained stubborn.

James ignored me, and sat down on the chair beside my bed without a word, much in the way I had when he was hurt. Merlin, does it seem creepy! What was I thinking?

He clearly did not intend on leaving, no matter how much I argued, so I gave up, falling asleep with my back turned to James Potter.

**A/N: Sorry again for the wait, I promise to update more quickly from now on.**

**Please leave a review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter seventeen: Home**

**A/N: So I decided recently that this would be the last chapter, so here goes, the final chapter of From One Era to the Next.**

The next few weeks were quiet, and I can't say I wasn't grateful. There was still an enormous amount of homework to complete, but there were no more Death Eater encounters, cursed classmates, or anything of the sort. It would have been blissful had I had a free moment to enjoy it.

Another positive thing that came out of this was that James and I became much closer. Since the weather was warming up, we would spend time sitting under a willow tree by the lake, him helping me with Transfiguration (my weakest point; his strongest) and I would help him with Potions and Charms (my best subjects).

It was during one of these study sessions that Ginny came up to us, interrupting a conversation that was admittedly not related to our Potions essay.

"McGonagall wants to see you two in her office," she said.

"What about?" James tried not to act annoyed, although I could tell he was.

"I don't know, but it seemed important."

I wondered myself what it could possibly be, the idea of going back to our time having been gone from my mind for a while now. I didn't question it, though, and walked up with the two of them, Ginny giving us some space, obviously almost as disappointed as James that she had to interrupt us. She was so excited when I started actually spending time with him.

We reached the Transfiguration professor's office and walked in, James and I both visibly nervous.

"You–you wanted to see us, Professor?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes," she replied. "I believe we may have found a way to get you two back to your own era."

I was not expecting that.

We were finally getting the opportunity to go home! I suppose I should have been more excited, although I had made some good friends here during these past several months.

"Are you serious?" James asked.

"Do I look like I'm joking, Mister Potter?" McGonagall replied shortly. "The Headmaster and I have found a spell that should do just that."

"That's fantastic!" Ginny hugged me.

I was still processing this new information.

"One thing I am afraid must happen is that you two may have no recollection of what has happened here. Knowing the information you do could be dangerous regarding how you live your lives, and, by extension, us as well."

"So, we will have to forget everything that has happened here?"

"I'm afraid so, Miss Evans."

I would not remember _anything_. Dating James. Befriending Ginny. The Death Eater attack. My entire sixth year will be erased and restarted from the beginning, right from that moment in Divination. Sure, this wasn't the best year of my life, but it was a lot to just throw away.

"…goodbye to Harry, Ron and Hermione?" I tuned in to hear James finish a question.

"I'm sorry, Potter, but we can not risk them figuring it out, although I presume Harry already has," McGonagall said.

"I thought he had, he kept looking at James and I oddly, especially when we were together," I said. "Wait, does that mean…"

"Yes, Miss Evans. Harry is your son as well."

James seemed to like this idea, a grin spreading across his face as he looked at me. Thankfully, he had the sense to not make some rude comment that would surely not impress Professor McGonagall.

"But, if Harry is my son, why wouldn't he have gone to stay with us over the holidays?" I asked.

"Lily, when Harry was a year old, you were," Ginny swallowed, "you were both killed by You-Know-Who. You both died protecting him."

Killed. I was killed before I could see my son grow up. Before he could have a proper childhood. Before he could have known his parents. It was odd enough to think that I _had_ a son, but not nearly as much as this whole idea of not being able to be there for him. I would never see him get his Hogwarts letter, never see my child off on the train to school, never grow old with the people I love. This was a lot to process for me right now.

"If you will, Miss Evans and Mister Potter, I think it will be best if we do this now rather than later," McGonagall interrupted my thoughts.

We both nodded, and I hugged Ginny again before she stepped back. James and I drank the potion Slughorn had apparently brewed earlier that day, a forgetfulness potion, and James put his arm around my waist. I didn't push him off. McGonagall then raised her wand, muttering a strange incantation that I couldn't quite make out, and a second later, all I could see was white smoke.

Everyone in the Divination room was staring as the blue flames on the crystal ball died down. That idiot could have killed us! I was just happy at least this time nothing happened to anyone, but who knows what could have gone badly?

I glared at James Potter, the look of shock gone from his face. "You idiot! Do you realize what could have happened?"

"Relax, Evans," an easy smirk spread across his features. "Nothing happened to us."

"Well something could have, so quit mucking about and write your essay," I snapped at him.

James just rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

On the way back to the Gryffindor common room before dinner, he followed me through the corridors like a lost puppy.

"Go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" he asked fearlessly.

"Not if it was a choice between you and the giant squid, you twat."

That didn't discourage him, though; he kept at it for the rest of the year. _Like I would ever say yes to him_, was all I could think.

**A/N: I can't believe I just finished my first ever fanfiction! Thank you all so much for reading this and especially to those who followed, reviewed or favorited this story, you guys are the very best!**

**I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do for future stories, but if you look on my profile, you can see the pairings I like, and if you would like, leave a review or message me which ship I should write about next! Thank you!**

**-Julie**


End file.
